9.22.23 … On the Rocks; shipwrecks and sandstone

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Vicki and I were camping in Munising, Michigan, and made the drive and walk up to the Au Sable Lighthouse (more about that later), clambering over sand ladders to reach the famous Pictured Rocks (but not really THE Pictured Rocks), and traipsing along the shoreline to not one but two shipwreck sites now partially exposed in the lake.

A shard of bent steel from a shipwreck gives testimony to the violence of storms on Lake Superior.
Vicki takes a walk amid the debris from a Great Lakes shipwreck near the Au Sable Lighthouse and the Pictured Rocks seashore

The Pictured Rocks are a series of sandstone bluffs facing Lake Superior. They are best visible from a boat, and after two ferry trips in summer 2023, I didn’t really fancy another expensive boat ride. Besides, I’ve seen sandstone bluffs in Arkansas. These may have more interesting colors from mineral deposits, but still. 

This is, I believe, a portion of the Pictured Rocks formation that is sloped down into the water, east of the actual bluffs. The sandstone takes on the colors of minerals that leach into the rock, either over the eons or during formation.
Sandstone and granite form the shoreline near Pictured Rocks.

Anyhow, near the lighthouse the layers of rock that make up the bluffs are awash and visible, so that just had to be enough. I’ll grant that the colors are pretty.

There are the remains of several shipwrecks visible in the shallow water along the shore, testament to the dangers of shipping and travel on Lake Superior.

Nothing but the keel of this lost ship remains at the edge of Lake Superior.

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